Is Inktomi dead?

[toolman]

I thought: "If I could just get into the top ten for this term on Ink I would make a ton of money".

I was wrong.

Is anybody getting good traffic from Ink anymore?

[edited by: toolman at 3:49 am (utc) on June 4, 2002]

[Key_Master]

Inktomi who?

[DrCool]

I have a few sites that are getting great traffic from Inktomi, primarily through MSN. There are only 1 or 2 Looksmart listings above the Inktomi listings so for the most part the keywords for that site show up on the first page. I have some other projects where there are 20 or more Looksmart listings above the Inktomi listings and they generate no traffic.

It all depends on how many other sites are out there targeting your keywords, particularly on MSN. The other Inktomi engines will give you very little traffic.

[tigger]

I'll go along with Drcool, but the moment MSN drop Ink the value of the paid pages will be nil

[toolman]

>>particularly on MSN. The other Inktomi engines will give you very little traffic.

I'd go along with this too. I thought AOL would be a gusher...but it isn't.

So is it safe to say that MSN is the last thread of life for both Ink and L$?

[Jill]

I am recently getting traffic via a couple of places that use Ink results. I have no paid pages in Ink any longer as they were buried and I got burnt out on paying for that kind of listing. I now have a couple of sites that are listing in the top ten and are getting decent traffic through MSN and a few other venues that seems to be selling pretty well. So they're not dead yet, but I certainly wouldn't pay for a listing with the experience we have had.

[backus]

There is a grave with their name on it, put it that way. I never get ANY traffic from AOL or Hotbot. MSN, yes, but who knows for how long. The rest? Don't get enough to make a difference. But I didn't pay to get into Ink so I don't mind.

[john316]

I think spamconnect put them under, any decent kw combo is monetized and leaves little (no) room for PFI clients..In addition the spamconnect option is at .25 a click and LS is at .15 (for a "directory" listing)..hate to say it but the value is with the latter. For all practical purposes, INK is now just a db of advertisers.

Too bad...they had a nice market share.

[Nick_W]

The only site I'm worried about for INK I can't seem to get in the damn thing. The competitor has a similar content theme and a rubbish site but INK loves her for some reason.

Nick

[WindSun]

Inktomi is just barely staying above $1 a share right now, so it may join the dinosaurs in the near future unless it gets a rescue effort from someplace.

[Brad]

I get a nice little stream of traffic from AOL and a bit through MSN. I get one or two hits a week from poor old Hotbot. Mostly these are 4+ kw searches.

[tigger]

Hotbot!! Hot who :)

Wasn’t there supposed to be a revamp sometime this year my referrals are now down to 1 or 2 a day

[john316]

>>Is Inktomi dead?<<

Here is what I see:

LS undercuts INK on the index connect program (where the corporate/big dollars are).
LS is only dependent on MS for revenue; if LS and MS play this out in standard MS fashion, INK is dead.

It is really dependent on how MS operates, my guess is that at some point soon, the LS/Wisenut thing replaces INK on MSN and MS swallows LS.

That is just standard Redmond procedure.

Is Inktomi dead? Ask Bill.

[Torben Lundsgaard]

I'm still getting a lot of traffic from MSN (.com and locals). AOL is still significant but traffic is falling.

[Go60Guy]

I'm having the strange experience of seeing a significant increase in AOL traffic (unpaid listings). I thought for a minute maybe they'd switched to Google earlier than expected.

[jeremy goodrich]

Depending on the target market, but in my experience, unless you are in the (spamconnect, good one) there isn't any room for the competitive terms for the small / mid size business (or webmaster).

I miss the ink of old, but I'm not going to cry as they are going soon.

[Marcia]

I'm seeing some nice MSN traffic for one site (not AOL), equal to Google so far, that has a free listing, no paid pages. I might suggest one paid page for the holidays because of the nature of the products, depending on how things continue with MSN. But I certainly wouldn't classify this site as a lucrative one for anyone interested in making serious money; it's a low-ticket, niche type of product line that isn't highly competitive.

[toolman]

>>>Depending on the target market, but in my experience, unless you are in the (spamconnect, good one) there isn't any room for the competitive terms

Go to MSN and do a search for "viagra". Go past the directory listings and look at the Ink pages. That's a good example of what jeremy is talking about.